LTS Enablement Stacks

The Ubuntu LTS enablement stacks provide newer kernel and X support for existing Ubuntu LTS releases. These enablement stacks can be installed manually but are also available when installing with Ubuntu LTS point release media. These newer enablement stacks are meant for desktop and server and even recommended for cloud or virtual images. However, if one wants to remain on the original GA stacks, the options are:

Perform an update or upgrade to an LTS release from a previous release.

Perform a network install using the netboot images rather than the new <release>-netboot images.

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS - Xenial Xerus

The 16.04.2 and newer point releases will ship with an updated kernel and X stack by default for the desktop. Server installations will default to the GA kernel and provide the enablement kernel as optional.

The 16.04 HWE Stacks will follow a new Rolling Update Model as documented at the following location:

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS - Trusty Tahr

The 14.04.2 and newer point releases will ship with an updated kernel and X stack by default. If you have installed with older media you can use the following to install the newer HWE kernel derived from 16.04 (Xenial):

Server

Install the HWE kernel derived from 16.04 (xenial):

sudo apt-get install --install-recommends linux-generic-lts-xenial

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS - Precise Pangolin

The 12.04.2 and newer point releases will ship with an updated kernel and X stack by default. The current and supported hardware enablement stack is comprised of the newer kernel and X stacks from 14.04 (Trusty).

Anyone wishing to opt into the hardware enablement stack for Precise may do so running the following commands:

Ubuntu Kernel Release Schedule

The following is a generic view of the Ubuntu release schedule, the kernels delivered, and the support time frames. 12.04, 14.04, and 16.04 will each deliver point release updates respectively (ie. 12.04.x, 14.04.x, 16.04.x) and eventually introduce newer hardware enablement kernels. Please refer to the 12.04.x, 14.04.x, and 16.04.x Ubuntu Kernel Support diagrams in the corresponding sections below for more details.